Casting News Roundup

All sorts of casting tidbits to report today. Info behind the cut for the spoiler-averse…

First up: Serial Scoop reports that Lucas Adams has been cast as a character named Tripp. There was a casting call out for this role a loooooong time ago, and as suspected then, he’s the son of Steve and Ava, for whom they searched last year, only to find that he’d allegedly died. I know lots of people will see the name “Ava” and immediately reach for the cyanide, but I’m not opposed to this in theory. Bringing on that child — and presumably putting him into conflict with Joey, who killed his mother! — feels like the sort of conflict Steve and Kayla should have at this stage, rather than any more third parties. He first airs in the beginning of 2017.

While we’re on the subject of the Johnson clan, we already knew that Paige Searcy (Jade) opted not to sign a contract and will stop appearing in January. There was also a recent report of someone named Gabrielle Haugh having joined the cast…

Now Serial Scoop is confirming that Haugh is the new Jade. I actually think Paige Searcy has been pretty good, and she brings a sort of batshit hilarity to what’s been a pretty thankless role, so the bar for Haugh (whom I’m guessing is on contract) is surprisingly high. My initial reaction is that she doesn’t look a damn thing like the current Jade, which normally wouldn’t be a huge deal, except the current Jade looks like she could be the product of a black father (Real Andrews’s Hal, whom we’ve seen onscreen numerous times) and a white mother. This young lady… does not. So we’ll see how they maneuver that. “Sloppily” would be my guess, but hey, anything can happen. Haugh’s first airdate as Jade will be January 17.

Now here’s one I think we all saw coming, but not in a bad way:

According to We Love Soaps, Lamon Archey (formerly of The Young and the Restless) has been cast as Valerie Grant’s son, Eli, who’ll also be in Salem in early 2017. What really makes this interesting is that, per a report at Serial Scoop — and later confirmed by a video that Susan Seaforth Hayes posted and quickly deleted — Eli has a Horton connection and seems to be Valerie’s son by David Banning, Julie’s son, who hasn’t been seen in Salem since 1982. I’m all for digging into history this way and giving Julie a more direct tie to the younger generation. It’ll be strange to play out this story without David, unless they establish that he died offscreen or have already quietly cast an actor in the role. But I’m a fan of strengthening the Horton presence and calling back to a landmark story from Days‘ earlier years, so this has potential.

This veteran performer, who joined the cast of Days of our Lives in the last two years, has left the long-running soap.

This has to be a veteran soap actor, not a veteran of the show itself, which I’d say narrows the list down to A. Martinez (Eduardo) and Vincent Irizarry (Deimos). I guess it could also be Jordi Vilasuso (Dario), who started on Guiding Light at the tail end of the 90s, but the first two seem much more likely to be called “veterans.” Anyway, Martinez went off-contract this past fall, so while I wouldn’t be shocked to see Eduardo fully gone at some point, my money’s on Irizarry — especially considering the uneven writing for Deimos, which has to box him into a corner at some point, and the return of Eric and his unfinished story with Nicole. I’m on Deimos overload these days, and I don’t think the character makes a lick of sense, so I’ll be thrilled if this is the case. Irizarry could’ve been a huge asset to Days as a charismatic villain, but this schizophrenic writing (and having everyone else trip over themselves to justify his actions) has really tanked the potential there.

23 Comments on “Casting News Roundup”

Well you gave a spoiler alert but not an eye candy alert. Even if there are still some troubles with the writing, at least the casting department has their act together. Can’t wait for Lucas and Lamon to start airing.

More teens would NOT be my first choice, either. Especially because, even though I like James Lastovic (more than a lot of people do, I think), I don’t think he’s nearly strong enough to lead a story.

I like both Irizarry and Martinez as actors. But Deimos is reaching Daniel-levels of hatred for me as far as the disparity in what he does vs how he’s perceived by people in Salem. It’s nuts. And I hate Nicole with him.

It bothers me to watch Deimos when he’s kissing a woman. He looks like he’s trying to eat her face. It always makes me feel really sorry for whichever actress is having to kiss him, which is probably not how we’re supposed to feel, watching a love scene.

About 6 months ago I had seen a post on Daytime Royalty that alerted me to the fact that Tripp would probably be coming on the scene. He has the right look to be Steve’s son but I have mixed feelings about how this storyline will play out.

I don’t get this Jade recast at all. The original casting call for Jade called for an actress with an “ethnic” look and mentioned possibly Asian or Hispanic. This chick doesn’t look like she could be Real Andrews daughter at all. I really like Paige Searcy even if the character of Jade is beyond annoying.

I am interested in seeing how Eli factors in to things and I hope A Martinez sticks around. Of course I have loved him since he played Cruz on Santa Barbara but I think he has a good chemistry with everyone and his character has a nice dynamic with a lot of the other characters. I was so freaking excited about Vincent Irrizarry joining the cast and I have been nothing but disappointed since he got there. I have never understood the need for Dario. It feels like they keep trying to find a place for him but he just doesn’t add anything to the show…at least not for me.

I’m really annoyed that they cast a white girl as Jade. The diversity on this show is so slim that it’s a real slap in the face to replace a character who’s supposed to be a POC (I don’t know what Paige Searcy’s actual background is) with someone who’s clearly Caucasian, especially when the onscreen parent is clearly black!

I like A Martinez a lot. Eduardo works better at some times than others, but he’s clearly a supporting character, so it’d be hard for me to be offended by him anyway. I really like him when they put him with John and Steve in investigative mode, and I thought his chemistry with Kassie DePaiva’s Eve was terrific. He and Kate aren’t bad together, albeit a bit isolated and predictable.

Dario’s sort of confusing. I like Vilasuso fine, but it’s like they wanted to cast him and shoehorned a character into the show to justify it, rather than having a need for Dario and casting someone to fill it. If this chemistry test they’re doing with him and Abigail pans out, cool, but if not, I don’t really see the need. Truthfully, I’d rather have seen them put Belle with him for a fresh start than that awful Shelle/Phelle retread they did.

Paige Searcy’s IMDB lists her ethnic background as Hispanic, Irish, French, and Cherokee. I remember seeing or reading an interview with her after it was revealed that Real Andrews was playing her father and she seemed surprised that she was playing the daughter of a black man but she stated she didn’t realize Real Andrews was black and thought he looked Puerto Rican when she met him. Replacing Searcy with a white girl is just an aweful decision unless this new girl is some phenomenal actress and the character is getting a personality transplant…this I guess I will over look it.

For me Vilasuso is handsome but other than that he is just bland. Strangely enough his voice bothers me for some reason. I honestly think I want it to be deeper and with a thicker accent or something…lol. I know a lot of it is just the character’s lack of real purpose but it’s all just flat.

I guess I could see how Real Andrews could read as Puerto Rican at first glance. If this new girl is knock-it-out-of-the-park amazing — like, Billy Flynn levels of good right out of the gate — then, yeah, I’ll accept why they felt they had to cast her. Otherwise, it’s really a slap in the face of diversity.

JV definitely plays sort of bland, especially as Dario. Sometimes I actually feel like he’s trying to cover up an accent, though I don’t think he is.

Wow… Looks like Salem will be heating up the teen scene… I’m glad to see Eli though… Very interesting that he may be David Banning’s son… If I am not mistaken David and Valerie were the 1st interracial couple to be shown in the Soap Opera world or maybe it was just DOOL’s… Seems like it was the mid 70’s if I’m not mistaken and very taboo… But then he hooked up with Trish … Wonder when Scotty Banning will show back up???

I believe they were the very first interracial couple in soaps, and the public was sadly not prepared at all to accept them. I love that they’re calling back to that story all these years later.

They really screwed themselves on Scotty Banning in terms of aging. He was in his early 20s in 1989, which means he’d need to be mid-40s minimum now if they want to stay consistent. And he was a contemporary of Eve’s, which is even messier.

I wish Paige Searcy the best for the future – I have read both college and movie roles. I thought she was one of the best young actors to appear on Days in a long time. She has a refreshing unique look that I find much more interesting than beautiful young things that seem to populate the canvas. One thing I like about British soaps is that people don’t have to be airbrushed perfect. They also allow actors and actresses to age naturally. They don’t have to chop up their faces to meet their audience expectations. Sorry for the mini rant.

I am so glad it is not just me! I have been bothered by it since he first came on but I haven’t been able to pin point what exactly it is about it that bothers me. I do find myself wishing he had more of an accent. I wondered if he had just done a ton of voice lessons to lose an accent and that was the problem.

I have already found myself thinking of this new actress as “white Jade” and I can’t really picture her with Joey but part of that might be in my head since Paige and James are dating.

Ok – explain to me how either of these new young men are supposed to be teenagers. Any child of Steve & 💩 would have to be at least 4 years older than Joey. And any child of David & Valerie would have to be 30+ years old, since they were together in the early 80’s. Of course, Valerie should be in her late 50’s or early 60’s.

I’m thinking Tripp is early 20s. Eli is definitely in his very late 20s or early 30s — they’re totally fudging the timeline of Valerie’s age and when she was last in Salem, I think partly because of Julie’s age and the David factor.